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Research Overview

Dr. Gregory Priebe’s research focus is on the prevention of hospital-acquired infections, which he pursues through leadership in patient safety and quality efforts, through clinical research on ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and ventilator-associated events (VAE), and through basic research on bacterial genomics and vaccines. Dr. Priebe’s basic research lab studies the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and members of the Burkholderia cepacia complex, all with the long-term goal of developing vaccines and new antimicrobials. Techniques used in the Priebe lab span multiple fields, including microbiology, molecular biology, bacterial genomics, cellular and molecular immunology, and animal models of infection.

In parallel with his bench research program, Dr. Priebe runs the Critical Care Infection Prevention Program (CCIPP) at Boston Children’s Hospital. The CCIPP consists of the Nosocomial Infection Oversight Committee (NIOC), which oversees healthcare-associated infection surveillance and infection prevention practices for the hospital’s 4 ICUs, and the Translational Research for Infection Prevention in Pediatric Anesthesia and Critical Care (TRIPPACC) Program, which is a multidisciplinary research group of investigators in pediatric critical care medicine, bacterial pathogenesis, infectio.

Research Background

Dr. Gregory Priebe earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and then went on to complete residency and chief residency in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital followed by fellowships in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, also at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is board certified in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

Dr. Priebe is the Associate Program Director for the Fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, where he serves as the Director of Fellow Research, and he is also the physician site leader at Boston Children’s for the national Solutions for Patient Safety network.

Selected Publications

  1. LiebermanTD, MichelJB, Aingaran M, Potter-Bynoe G, Roux D, Davis MR, Skurnik D, Leiby N, LiPuma JJ, Goldberg JB, McAdam AJ, Priebe GP, Kishony R. Parallel bacterial evolution within multiple patients ties novel genes to pathogenesis.  Nat Genetics 2011; 43(12):1275-80(PMCID3245322).
  2. Skurnik D, Davis Jr. MR, Benedetti D, Moravec KL, Cywes-Bentley C, Roux D, Traficante DC, Walsh RL, Maira-Litràn T, Cassidy SB, Hermos CR, Martin TR, ThakkallapalliEL, Vargas SO, McAdam AJ, Lieberman TD, Kishony R, LiPuma JJ, Pier GB, Goldberg JB, Priebe GP. Targeting pan-resistant bacteria with antibodies to a broadly conserved surface polysaccharide expressed during infection. J Infect Dis 2012; 205(11):1709-18. Epub 2012 Mar 23 (PMCID3415848).
  3. Wu W, Huang J, Duan B, Traficante DC, Hong H, Risech M, Lory S, Priebe GP.  Th17-stimulating protein vaccines confer protection against Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia.  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2012;186(5):420-7. Epub 2012 Jun 21
  4. Kamei A, Wu W, Traficante DC, Koh AY, Van RooijenN, Pier GB, Priebe GP.Collaboration between macrophages and vaccine-induced CD4 T cells confers protection against lethal Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia during neutropenia. J Infect Dis 2012, Epub 2012 Nov 21.
  5. Hong H, Morrow DF, Sandora TJ, Priebe GP.  Disinfection of needleless connectors with chlorhexidine-alcohol provides long-lasting residual disinfectant activity.  Am J Infect Control 2012, in press.

Publications